My Other Blogs

Time to remember the family we know who have served. I already did layouts about my mother's brother Lyman Oehring in WWI infantry Red Arrow(Big Red One) division, and my dad's cousin, Clair Garver in the Navy Band, but I recently came across a big portrait of Mother's cousin Richard Hodges from Mount Pleasant, Michigan. I don't know much about Richard except my mother's telling me he had died in the war. I started trying to locate information about Richard. What I found was an explanation as to why the records are so incomplete and sketchy. The numbers of allied killed and where they were buried is just so muddy. Records were not kept and estimates of numbers vary by thousands and thousands. Many were buried where they died and no marker or record available.

Amber was the youngest daughter of my cousin, Larry. He was partially raised by my parents so we were like twins for many years. His children are like nieces and nephew, but we don't stay in touch nearly enough. How sorry I am that we didn't, but I cherish the last time we visited Larry 2 years ago and visited with Amber, too.

This was scanned as an exercise in cleaning up an old photo. Actually, this is a glass photograph that we think was brought from Sweden by my great grandfather Carl Andersson (Charles Anderson) when he immigrated in 1870.

Another mystery discovered with a new cache of old photos. Who is this "Miss Hodges"?I will be sending this link to the photos to my Oehring cousins (6) in the hopes that one of them has an answer to this and other Oehring mysteries.

They were sisters, girls of good Indiana farm stock, but they wanted more. Minnie was married into a successful photographer’s family by age 18 and had son, Clair, exactly a year later. Katie, however, watched as her older sister settled more and more into life in Hicksville and swore it wouldn’t happen to her. She became a teacher in the one room school house, AND postmistress. Her clothes were fancy and she nagged her sister to dress just so. Even her little nephew was pushed into the fashionable mold. By age 17, Katie married a handsome railroad man who wore suits and hats. She fled Hicksville for Chicago, Detroit and finally settled for the quiet life in Gibraltar. Fashion never was far from her heart.

Minnie and Katie were almost different generations with the 8 year difference in their ages. Katie remained devoted to Clair even after his mother died in 1950. Clair never married (maybe it was those outfits). He and my father were close, again inspite of the difference in age. Both were pharmacists and both owned their own stores, Clair’s in Ohio; Dad’s in Michigan. When Clair died in 1966 it was the end of a branch of the family that went back 5 generations. I have had to do some real detective work to turn up a few cousins, but, at last, there have been some connections back to a fine, proud, family dating to the early 1700s. Katie and Minnie would so love what I have learned. I wish I could share it with them.

Sorting boxes, totes and baskets of stuff into my new scrap room I came across a box of photos I don't remember. So far the oldest one dated is 1906. Many have no identifying marks and I just have to keep trying to identify something in the picture.

I remember my mother talking about her Uncle Charles...her mother's brother. She knew he had some position in the government of the Philippines. I ran across this little group of mailings from Charles to my mother's brother, Sid. He would have been 15 at the time. The pictures are so interesting. The photos and papers are actually in perfect condition. I used a series of aging overlays to get the look I wanted here.

I didn't say "A Treasure" because the "Find" is so frustrating. As I unpacked dozens of boxes and totes of craft items, I found a Whitman Samplers box full of old photos. A few have something written on the back but many have only a date. Many have nothing to identify the photo at all. There are interesting formal portraits and they will be scrapped although I don't know who some of the subjects are. Putting my head together (over the computer connection) with my brother we will be doing some detective work like we did on this one. At first I thought it was from my mother's family, however looking more closely I was able to identify my grandmother and her best friend, my dad's Godmother and, probably, her husband. The location may never be known, though.

Looking at other photos of my mother, the younger granddaughter looks amazingly like my mother. However here, it is the older granddaughter who looks SO like my mother's older sister. We have been wondering where the sharp little chin comes from on Gab...now I see that my aunt had the same chin.

This was an amusing layout to create. I really think I need to do more of them to compare generations.

My mother's paternal grandparents were both German immigrants. They came to America on the same boat at the same sailing, but didn't meet until both had settled in Saginaw, a hub for German Immigrants.

Rheinhold died many years before Johanna and my mother doesn't really remember him. She did tell me stories about the bitterness against Germans during the war. Her grandmother, who lived with them, spoke ONLY German and, with his son in the war, my grandfather would allow NO German to be spoken in his house. My mother said her grandmother didn't speak for the duration of the war. She would, however, listen to the radio (in English) and cry over names of towns she knew and possible relatives and friends in the midst of the war. She had a grandson on one side of the war, and nephews fighting on the German side. How hard it must have been for her.

This is the inside of my grandparents' home in Detroit around the turn of the century. I do mourn the little "tabourette" (table with a fern on it in the bottom photo) that I had, but my children fell on it and broke it. I can identify some of the dishes on the sideboard in the dining room photo. I consider these professional photos to be treasures!

These are some treasured photos of my mother's family. The original photos are all safely tucked away in acid-free envelopes. I use the system from OrganizedPhotos.com. The layouts can be printed in any square size, but the first are usually 8" x 8" for the albums and refills I can occasionally find inexpensively at Big Lots or some dollar stores.

From time-to-time I also print them smaller for little handy gifts for relatives.

Great Grandfather Abraham (Abram) Hodges, my mother's mother's father. I know so little about him but there are some stories in research done by my mother's cousin long ago, and some census statistics. So far I haven't been able to identify his wife in any of the mystery photos I have. I also can't find any statistics about her.

Both of my grandfathers, Anderson and Oehring, were in the Masons, My parents met through youth organizations sponsored by the Masons. I have several Masonic items and only an SURE of the origin of the cufflinks with the O for Oehring on one side. The "coin" was with my grandmother's things so that probably belongs to that side.

THis is a treasured photograph of my mother's whole family. Befor another formal portrait could be taken, the brothers had scattered, college and one to World War I.

My Great-Aunt and my Grandmother traveled to New York State in 1916. Some of the photos seem to have been taken at an army base. I suspect they went to visit my uncle, who was in WWI and might have been stationed there before deployment to Europe. Story has it that my grandmother tried to block my Uncle from lying about his age by a few months to sign up, but that my Grandfather won out and their son joined the Army. He was in Europe for a long time, at least over 2 Christmases, in Holland, France, Germany.

JOURNALING: There was a funny feeling when I discovered this photo. My parent’s bedroom!!! I remember the bedroom set, especially the dressing table. Now the table has been remodeled into 2 bedside tables. My brother has the furniture. I remember the doll, Janice, but not the buggy. I don’t remember playing dress-up with Mom’s hat and shoes. The pajamas don’t strike a chord, either, but that bedroom! I can picture Mom sitting on the stool with the hem of her dress turned back to protect it from nail dust and filing her nails. The Priscilla-style curtains were all through the house. Why do I know that felt hat was blue? I don’t remember, or do I?KITS: ButterflyKisses-by Kim Liddiard and FunkyFrameStamps by Rene Bross for Club Digital April 2008

I am letting my mother's writing on the photo act as the title.JOURNALING: A summer day and 5 friends...how did they amuse themselves in 1921? My mother and her friends held a Mock Wedding. The preparations took all day. Each girl had her part and had to scour up a costume appropriate for her role. That is my mother playing the part of the minister, wrapped in an army blanket. My aunt was Maid-of-Honor in a bath robe and her mother’s cloche' hat. This was in my grandmother’s garden so I can only guess that they were allowed to pick some of her flowers for the bouquet. The “gentlemen” holding their hats just so during the ceremony is quite elegant, but the knickers on the girls must have been just a bit risque.KITS USED:Vanilla Page Kit by Meryl BarthoRing Around The Rosies, Deep Tone Page Kit by Meryl Bartho

My goodness...has it been a year since my last post? I haven't given up, in fact, I am contemplating a road trip to Indiana to look in the genealogy department of the Fort Wayne library. It was to be a trip with an online genealogy/ scrapbooking group, but the group seems to have disbanded.

Along the way, I have corresponded with a 5th cousin in Indiana who wrote a book about my grandmother Anderson's roots. Another friend send me scans of the pages that are linked to my search. A wealth of information! I do hope we can go this summer. I want to meet this cousin.